Chapter 3:
Which statement is NOT correct as it relates to mood and judgment?
Our moods don't influence our judgments.
In the context of political perceptions, people everywhere perceive mediators and the media as
biased against their position.
Which of the following best explains why Olympic bronze medalists express more happiness than silver medalists?
counterfactual thinking
When Bob turned in his assignment late, his boss believed it was because Bob is a lazy person. Bob's boss made a(n)
dispositional attribution.
While sitting at a red light on her way to work, Amber fumes, "Why is it every time I'm late for work I get stuck at these red lights?" Amber most clearly holds a(n)
illusory correlation.
The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's beliefs is called the
overconfidence phenomenon.
Your summer vacation was perhaps not an overwhelmingly positive event, but during the final week of August, you remember it as being a fantastic time. This is an example of
rosy retrospection.
Mental concepts or templates that intuitively guide our perceptions and interpretations are called
schemas.
According to the fundamental attribution error, observers
underestimate situational influences.
Fundamental attribution error is the tendency for observers to _____ situational influences and _____dispositional influences on behavior.
underestimate; overestimate
Counterfactual thinking is more likely when
we can easily picture an alternative outcome.
The tendency to imagine alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened but did not is called
. counterfactual thinking.
. Provide examples of both the availability and the representativeness heuristic.
Answer will vary.
Both you and your friend are late for a meeting. How would the attribution theory predict both your behavior and your friend's behavior?
Answer will vary.
Describe an example of how the actor-observer difference could play a role in racist beliefs.
Answer will vary.
Describe how behavioral confirmation can take place in a classroom.
Answer will vary.
Describe the strengths and the weaknesses of both controlled and automatic processing.
Answer will vary.
Explain how misattribution can play a role in sexual harassment.
Answer will vary.
Provide an example of the fundamental attribution error, and be sure to explain why the error is considered "fundamental."
Answer will vary.
Provide an example of the overconfidence phenomenon in the workplace.
Answer will vary.
What is illusory thinking and what are its effects?
Answer will vary.
June is participating in a research study. When she arrives at the room the experimenter treats her poorly, ignoring her questions and answering her in a sharp tone. Steve participates in the same study. However, the experimenter acts in a very friendly manner toward him and goes out of his way to ensure Steve is comfortable at all times. Research on embodied cognition would predict
June will think the temperature in the laboratory was colder than Steve.
Amy, a B student, got a 100% on her first psychology test. According to the regression toward the average phenomenon, what grade should Amy expect on her second test?
an 85% (B)
Jack and Jill are playing a game of "Monopoly." Jack is losing, but if he rolls at least an 11, he'll be able to pass "Go" and collect $200. When his turn comes he throws the dice as hard as he can in hopes of rolling a high number. Jack most clearly holds a(n)
illusion of control.
Which of the following helps successfully reduce problems with overconfidence?
receiving prompt feedback
Which of the following is NOT an example of automatic thinking?
reflection
When people viewed a videotape of a suspect confessing during a police interview with a camera focused on the suspect, they perceived the confession as genuine. If the camera was instead focused on the detective, they perceived it as more coerced. This is an example of
the camera perspective bias.
You walk into your classroom just as the class before yours is getting out. You notice two people standing by lectern at the front of the classroom: a 50-year old man and a 26-year old woman. You assume the man is the instructor and the woman is the student because most of your professors are older men. This is an example of
the representativeness heuristic.
Which of the following is NOT one of the explanations for why we study attribution errors?
to provide insight into why it is acceptable to focus social psychological research on Western cultures
Which of the following statements regarding overconfidence is true?
. People tend to be more confident than they are correct.
When we are eager to seek information that verifies our beliefs but less inclined to seek evidence that might disprove our beliefs, the _____ has occurred.
. confirmation bias
People in Western cultures are more inclined to assume that others' behaviors
. reflect inner traits.
. Which statement is NOT correct as it relates to mood and judgment?
When emotionally aroused, we are less likely to make System 1 snap judgments.
When a teacher believes that a child's underachievement is due to lack of motivation and ability, it reflects
a dispositional attribution.
Which of the following is a thinking strategy that enables quick, efficient judgments?
a heuristic
A belief that leads to its own accomplishment is called
a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Your immediate recognition of your friend's face or her voice on the phone is an example of
automatic processing.
Assuming most crimes involve violence because the news generally reports on rapes, robberies, and beatings is an example of the _____ heuristic.
availability
The cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their accessibility in memory is called the _____ heuristic.
availability
Although travelers in the United States are more likely to die in an automobile crash than on a commercial flight covering the same distance, people often assume that flying is more dangerous than driving. What type of heuristic are people using when they make this assumption?
availability heuristic
Kelly just saw a news report about an airplane crash. She now believes that she is more likely to be in an airplane accident than an automobile accident. This is an example of the
availability heuristic.
According to the study by Ridge and Reber (2002), if you are told that someone you have never met is attracted to you, you will likely
behave toward that person in a way that draws out their flirtatious behavior.
When our expectations lead us to act in ways that induce others to confirm those expectations, _____ is at work.
behavioral confirmation
You attend a party where you do not know anyone but expect that people will be friendly. You meet people warmly and in a sociable manner. Your actions, in turn, lead to other people being friendly to you. This situation can best be described as
behavioral confirmation.
You have a tendency to assume someone is still a good friend even after a person acts otherwise. This tendency is known as the
belief perseverance phenomenon.
Despite reading numerous research studies that report the association of fast food consumption with heart disease and diabetes, Rachel continues to eat fast food and thinks that it is harmless. Rachel's thinking is an example of
belief perseverance.
Researchers provided study participants with evidence that either risk-prone or cautious people make better firefighters. When participants wrote an explanation for the findings, they were particularly susceptible to
belief perseverance.
Sometimes the basis for one's belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives. Social psychologists refer to this as
belief perseverance.
The more we think on our theories and elaborate on how they might be true, the less open we are to outside information that challenges our beliefs. This statement is best explained by
belief perseverance.
In an experiment, Lee Ross set up a simulated quiz game. He randomly assigned some Stanford University students to play the role of questioner, some to play the role of contestant, and others to observe. Results indicated that
both contestants and observers thought the questioners were more knowledgeable than the contestants.
According to a study by Burger and Pavelich (1994), voters were more likely to attribute the outcome of an election to the _____ the day after a presidential election, and to the _____ a year after the election.
candidate's personal traits and positions; nation's economy
In _____ cultures, people are less likely to perceive others in terms of personal dispositions.
collectivistic
Researchers Edward Jones and Victor Harris (1967) had Duke University students read debaters' speeches either supporting or attacking Cuban leader Fidel Castro. When the students were later told that each debater's position had been assigned, they
concluded that to some extent the speech reflected the speaker's true beliefs.
Sharon typically watches televised news stations that support her existing political beliefs. She is less inclined to watch the news on other stations, as it may disprove her preconceptions. Sharon's approach illustrates the
confirmation bias.
. According to research done by Miller and his colleagues (1975), if you want young children to put trash in wastebaskets, you should repeatedly
congratulate them for being neat and tidy.
According to the text, many men assume women are flattered by repeated requests for dates, which women more often see as harassing. This is an example of
misattribution.
Steve likes Samantha. He has asked her out every day for the last month and believes that she is flattered by his unwavering attention. Samantha has recently filed harassment charges with the police. This example shows possible problems with
misattribution.
The process of judging something by intuitively comparing it to our mental representation of a category uses the _____ heuristic.
representativeness
The tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that someone or something belongs to a particular group if resembling a typical member is referred to as the _____ heuristic.
representativeness
On the first day of class, we see a middle-aged man at the front of the room, talking to a younger man. If we assume the older man is the professor and the younger man is the student, we are relying on _____.
representativeness heuristic
Once during a hospital stay, you observed a man and a woman (both in health professional attire) talking. You assumed that the man was a physician and that the woman was a nurse. Later, you found out the opposite was true. What type of heuristic did you use during your initial reaction to the two individuals?
representativeness heuristic
. You believe that although you studied for a test, you will do poorly on it. As a consequence of this belief, you get low grades. This is an example of
self-fulfilling prophecy.
Attributing behavior to a person's environment is called _____ attribution.
situational
You are consistently late to your psychology class, because the biology class you have immediately before it is in a building on the other side of campus. You are concerned that your professor does not think you are a serious student because of your chronic tardiness, so you inform her of why you are always late. You can now safely conclude that your professor will make what type of attribution about your behavior?
situational
In a study conducted by Lassiter and his colleagues (2005), participants observed a suspect confessing during a police interview. The results indicated that participants were more likely to perceive the confession as genuine when they viewed the confession
with a camera focused on the suspect.
Which statement is the clearest example of an attribution?
The rain caused the accident.
Activating particular associations in memory is called
priming
In a study conducted by Lassiter and his colleagues (2005), participants observed a suspect confessing during a police interview. The results indicated that participants were more likely to perceive the confession as coerced when they viewed the confession
with a camera focused on the detective.
Those who make dispositional attributions regarding poverty and unemployment tend to adopt political positions that
are unsympathetic to the poor.
. While waiting to cross the street, you witness a man running a red light—causing a three-car accident. Just after it happens, the man who ran the stoplight gets out of the car to talk to you. He tells you that the light was yellow. Later you tell police that you remembered the light being yellow, not red, when the man went through the intersection. This scenario illustrates
. the misinformation effect.
In the context of fundamental attribution error, observers tend to attribute a person's behavior to _____ with the passage of time.
. the situation
Researchers had male students speak by telephone with women they thought were either attractive or unattractive. When the researchers later analyzed the women's comments, they found that the
. women thought to be attractive spoke more warmly than the other women.
We tend to underestimate the situational determinants of others' behavior but not our own because we perceive others in a different manner than our own selves. This is known as the
actor-observer perspective.
The idea that chance events are subject to our influence describes
an illusion of control.
The perception of a relationship where none actually exists, or the perception of a stronger relationship than actually exists, is called
an illusory correlation.
Thinking that our premonitions correlate with events represents
an illusory correlation.
In the context of perceiving and interpreting events, which of the following statements is true of beliefs?
Beliefs influence how information is perceived
In a study conducted by Ridge and Reber (2002), men had to interview women for a teaching assistant position. The men were told that job candidates were either attracted to them or not attracted. The findings revealed that the
applicants believed to feel an attraction exhibited more flirtatiousness.
Which of the following strategies might be helpful in reducing the overconfidence bias?
Get people to think about why their judgments might be wrong.
. Which of the following strategies will NOT be helpful in reducing the overconfidence bias?
Give them feedback about others' performance.
Jack works as a software engineer in a multinational company. He finds that the company is training employees to develop their leadership skills. Jack, who values self-development, thinks this is a good opportunity to improve his skills. In the context of perceiving and interpreting events, which of the following statements is true?
Jack's beliefs influence how he sees new information
Richard Miller and colleagues (1975) investigated the reduction of littering in three classrooms. Which class still showed a reduction in littering two weeks after the study ended?
The class that was repeatedly congratulated for being neat and tidy
Burger and Pavelich (1994) found that voters were more likely to attribute the outcome of an election to the candidate's personal traits and positions the day after a presidential election, and to the nation's economy a year after the election. This represents which of the following explanations for the fundamental attribution error?
The passage of time decreases the tendency toward the attribution error.
The theory of how people explain others' behavior by ascribing it either to internal dispositions or to external situations is called
attribution theory.
Jumping out of your seat as a result of an unexpected scene in a movie is what type of thinking?
automatic processing
Your best friend is a master chess player and has won numerous awards. When you play chess with her, you notice that she seems to be aware of strategies almost immediately after your move. Her awareness of these strategies reflects what type of thinking?
automatic processing
"Implicit" thinking that is effortless, habitual, and without awareness is called
automatic processing.
After 9/11, many people abandoned air travel most likely because of the
availability heuristic.
Persistence of one's initial conceptions is called
belief perseverance.
"Explicit" thinking that is deliberate, reflective, and conscious is called
controlled processing.
After breaking up with your boyfriend, you imagine that you would still be with him if you had treated him more considerately. This is an example of
counterfactual thinking.
Jim who scored less in a subject regretted for not having studied sufficiently and wished he could have been more serious during his exams. This is an example of
counterfactual thinking.
You did not study for your psychology exam. However, you imagine yourself earning a better grade than the one you actually earned. This is an example of
counterfactual thinking.
Murray and his colleagues (2003) found that, among married couples, the self-fulfilling prophecy occurred when one person interpreted slight hurts as rejections. The person who felt rejected was then motivated to
devalue their partner and become distant from him or her.
. Your boss is always cranky. You assume this is because she is an unhappy person. What type of attribution are you making to explain her behavior?
dispositional
A fellow student is consistently late for class. You assume this is because he is lazy and unorganized. What type of attribution are you making for his behavior?
dispositional
Attributing behavior to a person's traits is called _____ attribution.
dispositional
You are consistently late to your psychology class, because the biology class you have immediately before it is in a building on the other side of campus. You are concerned that your professor does not think you are a serious student because of your chronic tardiness. If this were true, what type of attribution would your professor be making about your behavior?
dispositional
Inferring that Cinderella is truly meek as she cowers in her oppressive home is an example of how we often
forget about situational influences.
After reading a newspaper article about teenagers who illegally download music from the Internet, you conclude that those who engage in such behavior are morally bankrupt. It never occurs to you that the reason teenagers download music from the Internet is because they are not able to afford the price of a compact disc, or the temptation to download, coupled with the peer pressure to do so, is often great. Your thinking on this matter can be characterized by the
fundamental attribution error.
During his project presentation, Bob falls sick and performs poorly. However, his colleague, Dan, concludes that Bob is timid and lacks confidence. Dan's tendency to ignore Bob's sickness and focus on his traits as a reason for his poor performance exemplifies
fundamental attribution error.
The tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences on other people's behavior is called the
fundamental attribution error.
Research on gambling has found that throwing the dice or spinning the wheel increases people's confidence. This illustrates the
illusion of control.
. Antonia Abbey and colleagues (1987, 1991, 2011) found that _____ are more likely to attribute a _____ friendliness to sexual interest.
men; woman's
In the context of reconstructing past attitudes, researchers had students write essays opposing student control over university curricula. When asked to recall how they had felt about the same issue a week earlier most of the students
mistakenly "remembered" having felt the same as they do now.
Kruger and Dunning (1999) found that those students who scored lowest on tests of grammar and logic were _____ to overestimating their abilities.
most prone
. Those who make situational attributions regarding poverty and unemployment tend to adopt political positions that
offer more direct support to the poor.
Each semester, you repeatedly underestimate how long it will take you to complete a research paper that is due at the end of the term. Your behavior is an example of the
overconfidence phenomenon.
You used to envy your brother because he was always so self-assured when talking to others. Yet the older you become, the more you realize that your brother is more often convinced of things rather than accurate about things. Your brother's behavior can be explained by the
overconfidence phenomenon.
Your boss is always cranky. You assume this is because he has not had a raise in 10 years. What type of attribution are you making to explain his behavior?
situational
To retrieve a memory of where your date told you she wanted to go for dinner tomorrow, you need to activate one of the strands that lead to this memory, such as thinking about what types of food she does and does not like. This process is known as
priming
Joanna went over to a friend's house and rented the horror movie "Saw II." At 2:00 a.m., she awoke to a scratching sound at her window. Instead of thinking the noise is the result of a tree branch, she believed it was a serial killer trying to break in. This is an example of
priming.
Although you once earned a 100 on your physics exam, you have subsequently been unable to earn a perfect score again. Your experience may be understood in terms of
regression toward the average
The statistical tendency for extreme scores or behaviors to return toward average is called
regression toward the average.
After telling Steve that you believe Brenda is very gossipy, Steve labels you as a gossip. This is an example of
spontaneous trait inference.
One reason people are overconfident is that they are not inclined to seek out information
that might disprove what they believe.
We are eager to verify our beliefs but less inclined to seek evidence that might disprove them. This phenomenon is called
the confirmation bias
Because you see Fred gardening, you decide that he loves working in the yard. You see Fred this way owing to
the fundamental attribution error.
Incorporating inaccurate information into one's memory of an event, after witnessing the event and receiving misleading information about it is called
the misinformation effect.
Mike was the witness to a car accident in which a driver in an SUV disregarded a yield sign and crashed into sports car. When questioned, the police officer says, "How fast was the driver of the SUV going when he ran that stop sign?" A week later, when asked to recall the accident again, Mike reports the driver of the SUV running a stop sign. This is an example of
the misinformation effect.
